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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

In yesterday's post, I emphasized the need to develop an online presence on Bing, the fastest-growing social search site on the web. One of the best ways to do this is through a free profile on the Bing Business Portal.

In the Bing Business Portal, you can list your business details, profile, create your mobile website, upload photos, and even create business cards, QR codes, and more. It's important that you use every aspect of your Bing business listing in order to get the very best search results. Here are some ideas to help you optimize your resume writing business profile on Bing.

1. Consider your target audience. As with all types of marketing, it is very important to understand intimately who you are targeting with your profile. You need to know their demographics, their desires, fears, and needs. If you don't know those things you can't effectively attract them to your profile.

2. Fill out your complete profile. Use every inch of space to fill out your profile. Even if you work primarily with clients online (which most resume writers do), fill out the geographic-specific information too so that it makes it easier for your market to locate you in their search. In the "More Details" area, list your payment method, professional affiliations, when you started your resume writing business, and fill out your tagline. In the Description area, use all the keywords you can think of to describe what it is that you do for your audience.

3. Complete your mobile site. Even if your normal website is already mobile friendly, it won't hurt to fill out all aspects of your mobile site on your Bing business listing in the Bing Business Portal. The more information you provide and the more keywords you use, the more likely you are to show up in the search results.

4. Upload relevant photos. This is a good place to upload photos of examples of your work (before-and-after resume samples are an excellent example). You are able to fill in a caption for the photo, which can describe the photo in a keyword-rich way. This will ensure that your target market can find you and see examples of your work, or photos of your products if you publish information products (ebooks, for example).

5. Check for errors. Always double-check every aspect of your Bing business listing for errors. It's easy to make a spelling error, or a typo, so check to be sure that you have it written correctly and that everything looks the way it should in the Preview area. You can always update it later, but as with any content, it's best to edit and optimize from the start.

6. Fill out the "What I Sell" tab. Even though it may seem like duplication, the "What I Sell" tab is very important as it's yet another chance for you to enter search terms that your target audience will use when they're looking for a resume writer like you.

7. List all your events. Do you offer teleseminars or webinars on career topics? Speaking to any groups, or at a national conference? Whether the events are online or offline, this is a great place to list every event that you have so that when people search for events like yours they can find them easier. Again, this is another chance to enter search terms (keywords) that your target audience is using to find you.

8. Integrate your social media. Within your listing, under "Details" there is a space for your Facebook address, and your Twitter address (with more to come later). Ensure that you complete this area so that your target audience can connect with you on your other social media sites too.

9. Verify your site. This might seem like an obvious tip, but you may be shocked to learn that a lot of people forget to verify their Bing business listing. Depending on how you choose to verify, you may be sent a code via snail mail 7 to 10 days later. It can sometimes be mistaken as junk mail, so be on the lookout for it, because it has a PIN number you will need to enter in order for your listing to go live.

Once you have created your Bing profile, remember that it's not "Set it and forget it." Check back every few months to make sure that your profile is still up-to-date. And remember, the more complete your Bing profile, the more effective it will be for you.

Monday, June 10, 2013

You've probably seen and heard more about the Bing search engine over the past few months. They're really taking a run at Google, and while they're still well behind the world's #1 search engine, it can be worthwhile for your resume writing business to optimize your presence on Bing. It will only take about an hour or so, and you may see a significant increase in traffic to your website and social media profiles as a result.

Over the next few days, we'll take a look at how to create your Bing-friendly profile.

Did you know that some mobile devices default to "Bing" for search? If you didn't, you probably also need to know that Bing is the fastest growing search engine and if you're not using it to its full advantage to promote your resume writing business, you may be missing out.

With Bing Webmaster Tools, you can optimize your website. With Bing Ads, you can ensure that your customers find your resume writing business website. If you want to be found locally, ensure that you claim your business on Bing Business Portal. It's free to get started. Simply go to http://www.bing.com/businessportal and follow the easy instructions provided.

Due to the proliferation of Bing search, if you've not done this yet, you're not taking advantage of every opportunity to promote your business. As mentioned before, Bing is the default search on many mobile browsers now — due to that fact alone it is going to grow fast. Your business needs to be where the action is and today the action is with local search.

You can then make your profile super attractive by including photos, logos, and keyword-rich content. In the Bing Business Portal you can create a complete listing, ensuring to use keywords that will attract your target audience, and also offer deals to help you get more clients and/or customers.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Keywords are more important than ever on resumes as more and more companies use Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software.

Keywords are usually nouns or short phrases which refer to work experience, education, training, terminology, licensure, affiliations, skills, and abilities within a specific industry and/or profession.

Resumes are electronically searched for keywords matching the position's responsibilities or other criteria deemed relevant for the role (i.e., a bachelor's degree for a pharmaceutical sales position).

Work in keywords throughout the resume -- not just in a keyword summary section. Some applicant tracking systems can determine contextual cues, so use keywords in job descriptions, achievement bullets, and Qualifications Profiles.

Needs Analysis
Needs Assessment
Negotiations
Network Administration
New Business Acquisition
New Business Development
New Business Planning
New Media
New Product Introduction
New Product Launch
New Store Opening
Newsletter Development
Nurse

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Google Keyword Tool is key that unlocks the door to web traffic to your website and thus, new resume clients. The Google Keyword Tool pulls its data straight from Google’s database. Here you can find out exactly how many people each are searching for the keyword terms you’re targeting every month. You can find out keywords that people who search for one term ("find a resume writer) also tend to search for ("certified resume writer" and "best resume writer" are two of the top matches).

What’s great about the Google Keyword Tool is that you can figure out what keywords Google thinks are relevant – straight from Google. Google likes to rank sites that target groups of related keywords. Does Google think your keywords are related? Why not ask Google?

Google’s keyword tool offers a wide range of different tools and options. You can search by broad, phrase, or exact match. This allows you to figure out broadly how many people are performing searches for a keyword, as well as precisely what people type into Google. You can search by specific countries or languages, as well as filter your results any number of ways.

By and large, for most projects the Google Keyword Tool is all you need. Some projects might truly require more complex tools, which generally have to be paid tools, since Google charges a fee for outside apps to pull their data. If you’re doing SEO or PPC research on a small to medium scale however, the Google Keyword Tool can easily provide you with all the data you’ll ever need.

To get started, enter the keyword you want to research in the “Word or phrase” box.

Step 2: The Exact Term Checkbox

Check whether you want Google to treat your term as an exact term.

What exactly does this mean?

If you don’t check this box, Google will give you all kinds of keywords that are related to your keyword. For example, if you type in “interior decorating tips,” Google might give you terms like “interior decorating,” as well as “choose furniture” or “home decor.”

On the other hand, if you checked the box, Google will incorporate only keywords that contain your keyword or something very close to your keyword. So you might get keywords like “quick interior decorating tips” or “green interior decorating tips.”

Unchecking the box is a good way to brainstorm for new keywords. Checking the box is a good way to research exact search volumes for closely related keywords.

Step 3: Interpreting the Results

Once you hit search, you’ll then be presented with all the results that Google came up with.

First you’ll have the “Search Terms” box. This will give you all the data for the exact search terms you entered.

Below that, you’ll have the “Keyword Ideas” box. This is where Google will give you all the data they have about keywords that are related to yours.

The competition gauge is semi-accurate. If you’re doing keyword research using a specific methodology, it’s better to use your own methodology than use this gauge. For example, if you’re gauging competitiveness based on the PR ranking of the top pages and the number of exact match anchor text links it has incoming for the search term, stick with that strategy rather than use Google’s “Competition” gauge.

The “Global Monthly Searches” is the main number you want to look at for most sites. This is how many people in total search for your keyword term each month. The “Local Monthly Searches” on the other hand gives you data for how many people searched your term just in the country you selected. This is useful for local businesses or businesses that only target one country.

You can also use the "ad group" (currently in beta testing) to see broader "categories" of keywords:

Step 4: Refine by Match Type

Next, you can refine by match type. This is a crucial step that a lot of beginning marketers accidentally skip.

On the left hand side you can choose to see the result for Broad, Phrase or Exact match. Make sure you have the correct box checked.

What does each of these mean? Let’s take a look at an example.

Example Keyword: Resume Service

Broad: Any keyword that has your keywords incorporated is displayed. For example, “Resume Service” or “Resume Writing Service” would both count as a search for broad match.

Phrase: Only keywords that incorporate the word in the order that you entered will be displayed will show up. So “Resume Preparation Service” would count for phrase match, but “Service for Writing Resumes” won’t. (Notice how the listings under "keyword" changed.)

Exact: Only the exact words “resume service” will count, anything else with any added words will not count.

A lot of people accidentally leave the keyword tool set at broad match and think their keywords have a lot more volume than they really do. When you’re targeting specific keywords to rank for, always research volume using exact match.

Step 5: Exclude Terms

Often time’s you’ll want to exclude certain terms from showing up in your results. For example, if you’re promoting a paid resume writing service, you’ll probably want to exclude any keywords that allude to free services. So exclude the word "free" and "sample" and you'll see how that changes the results.

Step 6: Location and Languages

Under “Advanced Options and Filters,” select which country(s) and language(s) you want your results to display for.

If you’re only doing business in certain countries (and most resume writers are!), it helps to get a gauge for how much volume is in those countries, rather than the global volume.

Step 7: Devices

Choose which devices you want to see results for. If you’re researching data that’s exclusively for mobile devices, this can be a good way to narrow down your results.

Step 8: Filter Results

If you’re looking for keywords with a specific amount of search volume, it can help to just tell Google what you’re looking for. That way your search results won’t get crowded with keywords that don’t fit your criteria.

For example, if you’re only looking for exact match terms with 1,000 to 5,000 searches a month, all you need to do is setup a couple filters and you’re set.

Step 9: Sort Results

Choose how you want your results sorted. By default Google sorts by relevance, but you’ll very often want to sort by number of searches instead.

Step 10: Search by Website

Another common way to find keywords is to enter a competitor’s URL into the Google Keyword Tool. Google will pull up a list of all the keywords they think are relevant to that URL.

This is a great way to “steal” keywords that you wouldn’t normally think to search, or that Google wouldn’t normally pull up through relevance.

As you can tell, the search results are much more wide ranging than when you type in one specific keyword to stem your research from.

Step 11: Downloading the Results

If you want to download your results offline, just click “Download.” You’ll be able to save your results in spreadsheet format, with both the keyword data and the volume data.

Step 12: Estimating PPC Costs

If you want to estimate PPC costs outside of an AdWords account, here’s how you do it. Note that if you have an AdWords account, it’s better to use internal tools, as that’ll take into account your Quality Score and relevance when calculating click costs.

Start by going to the “Traffic Estimator” tool in the upper left corner.

Enter your keyword, then set your daily budget and max CPC.

Google will display your results, along with the estimated CPC below.

That’s how to use the Google Keyword Tool! You now know how to use one of the most versatile keyword research tools on the planet. Using the Google Keyword Tool, you can research any niche or market you’re tackling, whether you’re using pay-per-click or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies.

Monday, June 3, 2013

I've been writing resumes since I was 12. A lot has changed in that time. In fact, the resume writing business continues to change all the time. LinkedIn was launched in 2003, but I didn't join until October 2008. Most resume writers will tell you that LinkedIn has really impacted the hiring process — but the reality is, most of that change has come in the last five years. If you're a resume writer and you're not on LinkedIn, you're already behind the times. If you're not also helping clients improve their LinkedIn profiles, you're missing out on a great source of revenue ... and results for your clients.

The next big change in the hiring process — and, consequently, your resume writing business — might be just around the corner, or it might be five years away. But it's coming. That's for sure. Because nothing stays the same forever. There's always something new to learn. If you're planning on still being in business a year from now, you need to be investing in your skills. What you know today will not be all you need to know tomorrow. Get out there and learn all that you can.

Here are five ways to improve your skills as a resume writer:

1. Take a class. One of the great things about the resume writing industry is that there are lots of opportunities to improve your knowledge about the writing process, coaching clients, and new technology. (Check out the Events listing on BeAResumeWriter.com site — I collect information about training opportunities from multiple sources in the industry.)

2. Get involved. Is there a resume writing conference going on near you? Register and attend the meetings to find out what others in the industry are doing to grow their resume writing business. It's also a great opportunity to network with those who can help you succeed.